September 2026
The Work Matters
For over five decades. iconic artist John Lydon has remained an iconoclast while performing with the punk band the Sex Pistols to Public Image Ltd (PiL). In a special interview Lydon answers a number of questions from music to his personnel life. According to publicity for Lydon, the band, Public Image Ltd, will perform in North America this fall. The band consists of guitarist Lu Edmonds, drummer Mark Roberts, and bassist/multi-instrumentalist Scott Firth—Lydon.
The following is an interview with Lydon on his music and tour, and was sent to Jupiter Index via publicity.
It’s been eight years since Public Image Ltd last toured North America. How does it feel to bring the band back across the Atlantic this autumn?
John Lydon: It’s vital, absolutely vital. I’m not someone who sits around waiting for approval, but there is an undeniable bond with the audiences over there. When we get up on stage, it isn't some corporate exercise or nostalgic routine. It’s real human emotion, raw and exposed.
After everything that’s happened over the past few years, I thought for a moment that might be it for me. After losing Nora, and then losing Rambo, I couldn't see a clear way through. But the support from fans was overwhelming. With so many people asking for us to return and with the band meaning so much to them, I couldn't just stay on my sofa and not tour—tempting though that obviously is at times! You have to face the world.
You’ve been extraordinarily open about the loss of your wife, Nora. Songs like "Hawaii"—a track written as a love letter to her—showed a deeply tender, vulnerable side of your writing. How has performing those songs affected you?
John Lydon: "Hawaii" was dedicated to everyone going through tough times on the journey of life, with the person they care for the most. When I sang it originally, tears were rolling. Caring for someone you love when they are ill—it’s automatic and instinctual.
Nora loved our music, and she loved the End of World album. She wouldn't have wanted us to postpone anything or crawl into a hole. I had my moments of falling into self-indulgent pity, but I knew that if I ceased working, it would really annoy her. She’d be furious at me! So, I throw myself into the work. Life is our greatest gift and it's not to be cast aside regardless of your situation. You make the best of a thing, not the worst. With my irrepressible nature, I won't let the bastards grind me down.
This lineup of PiL with Lu Edmonds, and Scott Firth has been augmented by the addition of new drummer Mark Roberts. What makes this collective work so well?
John Lydon: We’re a gaggle of mates, plain and simple. There are no massive ego trips, no posers, no puppets being told what to do. When we get together in a room, the ideas just flow naturally out of that mutual respect. I’ve dealt with people in the past who tried to turn me into something I’m not—producers who wanted to alter the sound or turn me into some comfortable pop star. I will not be dictated to by arseholes. With Lu, Mark, and Scott, there’s trust. We write from the heart, and when we hit the stage, we’re entirely in sync.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, you were asked yet again about the possibility of a Sex Pistols reunion, and you remarked that the odds were "in the minus infinities". Is that chapter permanently closed for you?
John Lydon: Completely and utterly. Look, I’ll never forgive them for the way they piled that court case on me while my wife was dying of Alzheimer’s. They knew she was ill. To use corporate backing and high-priced lawyers to strip-mine me at a time when every penny and every second mattered for Nora’s care—that was a most unfortunate and unforgivable act on their part.
People keep looking for nostalgia or expecting me to play along with some corporate-sponsored memory trip. I gave up a long time ago bothering about other people's silly expectations. Public Image Ltd was created specifically because I wanted to build something real, something that was a valid threat to the comfortable predictability of standard rock & roll. PiL is my life’s work.
What can North American fans expect from the setlist on this tour, spanning from early PiL classics to End of World?
John Lydon: Expect the unexpected, as always! We cover a vast terrain because PiL’s catalogue isn't stuck in one decade or one genre. We’ll be performing songs from right across the spectrum—tracks from the early days like First Issue and Metal Box, straight through to our newest material.
Every song feels brand new when we play it live because we put everything into it. We don't perform to satisfy purists or posers. We play because music is a cleansing process. It’s a shared space where we can all leave our daily problems at the door for two hours and feel something authentic together.
The following is an interview with Lydon on his music and tour, and was sent to Jupiter Index via publicity.
It’s been eight years since Public Image Ltd last toured North America. How does it feel to bring the band back across the Atlantic this autumn?
John Lydon: It’s vital, absolutely vital. I’m not someone who sits around waiting for approval, but there is an undeniable bond with the audiences over there. When we get up on stage, it isn't some corporate exercise or nostalgic routine. It’s real human emotion, raw and exposed.
After everything that’s happened over the past few years, I thought for a moment that might be it for me. After losing Nora, and then losing Rambo, I couldn't see a clear way through. But the support from fans was overwhelming. With so many people asking for us to return and with the band meaning so much to them, I couldn't just stay on my sofa and not tour—tempting though that obviously is at times! You have to face the world.
You’ve been extraordinarily open about the loss of your wife, Nora. Songs like "Hawaii"—a track written as a love letter to her—showed a deeply tender, vulnerable side of your writing. How has performing those songs affected you?
John Lydon: "Hawaii" was dedicated to everyone going through tough times on the journey of life, with the person they care for the most. When I sang it originally, tears were rolling. Caring for someone you love when they are ill—it’s automatic and instinctual.
Nora loved our music, and she loved the End of World album. She wouldn't have wanted us to postpone anything or crawl into a hole. I had my moments of falling into self-indulgent pity, but I knew that if I ceased working, it would really annoy her. She’d be furious at me! So, I throw myself into the work. Life is our greatest gift and it's not to be cast aside regardless of your situation. You make the best of a thing, not the worst. With my irrepressible nature, I won't let the bastards grind me down.
This lineup of PiL with Lu Edmonds, and Scott Firth has been augmented by the addition of new drummer Mark Roberts. What makes this collective work so well?
John Lydon: We’re a gaggle of mates, plain and simple. There are no massive ego trips, no posers, no puppets being told what to do. When we get together in a room, the ideas just flow naturally out of that mutual respect. I’ve dealt with people in the past who tried to turn me into something I’m not—producers who wanted to alter the sound or turn me into some comfortable pop star. I will not be dictated to by arseholes. With Lu, Mark, and Scott, there’s trust. We write from the heart, and when we hit the stage, we’re entirely in sync.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, you were asked yet again about the possibility of a Sex Pistols reunion, and you remarked that the odds were "in the minus infinities". Is that chapter permanently closed for you?
John Lydon: Completely and utterly. Look, I’ll never forgive them for the way they piled that court case on me while my wife was dying of Alzheimer’s. They knew she was ill. To use corporate backing and high-priced lawyers to strip-mine me at a time when every penny and every second mattered for Nora’s care—that was a most unfortunate and unforgivable act on their part.
People keep looking for nostalgia or expecting me to play along with some corporate-sponsored memory trip. I gave up a long time ago bothering about other people's silly expectations. Public Image Ltd was created specifically because I wanted to build something real, something that was a valid threat to the comfortable predictability of standard rock & roll. PiL is my life’s work.
What can North American fans expect from the setlist on this tour, spanning from early PiL classics to End of World?
John Lydon: Expect the unexpected, as always! We cover a vast terrain because PiL’s catalogue isn't stuck in one decade or one genre. We’ll be performing songs from right across the spectrum—tracks from the early days like First Issue and Metal Box, straight through to our newest material.
Every song feels brand new when we play it live because we put everything into it. We don't perform to satisfy purists or posers. We play because music is a cleansing process. It’s a shared space where we can all leave our daily problems at the door for two hours and feel something authentic together.
